Ambigrams

An ambigram (or inversion) is a fun bit of word art that can be read as the same thing or something else if looked at from a different direction. I first saw a poster of Scott Kim‘s “inversions” in high school and immediately began doodling my own.

Most people start with trying to ambigram their own names. Somehow I’ve never made an ambigram of my name that I’ve been totally in love with, but I have made several attempts.

Andrea Hawksley

Andrea Hawksley

Andrea

Andrea (Mirror)

Andrea Hawksley

Typically people go on to ambigram various random words for practice.

Autism

Coffee

Escher

Origami (3 ways)

Snowflakes

Research

Knots!

Games

A popular thing to try to ambigram is some kind of “opposite” pair. For example, the terms mountain fold and valley fold from origami refer to simple folds where the crease is pointing either up or down.

Mountain Fold <-> Valley Fold

Once you get the hang of it, you start having your friends asking you to doodle them for their names.

Alisa

Balint

Daniel Whalen

David Dalrymple

Davidad

Franny

Ghost Whalen

Jennifer (in a ring)

Miro Jurisic

Robert J. Lang

Sasen & Matt Cain

Scott Kominers

Finally, if it’s all too easy, you might try to go for a certain style with your ambigram. For example, a company logo that maintains the look and feel of the original.